Joe Cool was picked up as a stray in Dallas by animal control. (thank you, Takoma!!) They called to tell me they had a "big black dog" that could be a Giant a Bouv or a Briard! Thats ok... I couldn't tell if he was a GS or a Bouv from the pix in email either, lol. Now we know, he is a GS, lol. Mary pulled him from the shelter and brought him to the clinic where I groom and where we started on him right away.

Doc exrayed the leg first to see what the extent of the damage to the dangling leg actually was. Its broken in half and reminds me of HOney's leg, only his isn't nearly as bad as hers was. It can be fixed with surgery so that will be first. He is Heartworm negative (yea!), no internal parasites and we don't have the thryoid bloodwork back yet. Other than the broken leg he seems to be in good health. Well, as good as anyone whose bones you can see and is broken can be.

I shaved all the nasty mats off and had to shave his face too, poor guy. He does have his eyebrows though! I noticed his registration number is tattoed underneath so thats was a fun find, lol. I punched the number into the AKC site and was able to find his birthday, registered name and pedigree! Joe was 7 in September. Everyone in the clinic was dumb founded that I was able to find that info out as quickly as I did all from a tattoo! We scanned to see if he might be chipped but he isn't. Joe was bred by the late Carla Keylon (Cartess) in OK. The breeder of the dam, Itsanart's Charisma Von Urs, is Walter and Martha Galuszka. The sire is Cartess Rocksolid Fred.

Joe will have surgery to realign the bones with a plate and screws or, he could be getting a pin with an external fixator on the leg on Tuesday, Dec 14, 04 at 5:00 p.m. He is currently on cephalexin and rimadyl to ease the pain. We still have thr leg surgery, neuter and the balance of the vaccinations to pay for yet. I have him on raw diet and fresh frozen BilJac and vitamins and supplements to build him back up and put some much needed weight on him.

If you would like to help Joe with his vet bills, we accept personal checks or money orders payable to:



Please make checks out and mail to:

Debbie Stover
2807 Allen Street #616
Dallas, TX 75204

Please include your email address if you send a check so Joe and I can thank you

We wouldn't be able to do what we do for these wonderful dogs without the generosity of our many friends of rescue.

Giant thank you for helping Joe to:

Mary Aguirre
Seth Thayer
Karalyn Eckerle
Lynn Risser
Kimberly Cole
Altha Graham
Marina Raukhverger
Liz Slater
Evelyn Gephart
Margrit Fleming
Tony Rupp
John & Sheila Murtaugh
Wally Swanson
Angy Mason
Diane Phaturos
Teresa Stancato
Carol Lerner
Ellen Dolezal
Tess Hood
Edith Notman
Beth and Sean Lev-Tov


UPDATE Saturday 12/11/04

Joe didn't want o eat breakfast this morning. I made stuff balls out of the modified satin balls and Biljac so he doesn't miss any meals. He does love raw hamburger but he needs more than just that to eat, lol. I hope he was just too excited to eat. Not eating is not a good sign so I hope there isn't something else going on with him. He was real busy playing with all the toys this morning and wanting to climb in my lap and root his head all over me, lol. I hope he isn't having renal issues. Being that skinny and not wanting to eat make me wonder as they can be sure signs. I'll see what the bloodwork says, keep your fingers crossed that is not the case.

Its hard to see how twisted the leg actually is when he moves. It just flops back and forth and twists around 180 degrees when he moves around.